Old, New, Borrowed, Blue
by Black.Rose.Authoress
Summary: Antonio and Lovi are getting married! Of course, this is Pleasantville, so things aren't going to go smoothly at all. What would be the fun in that? Gen!flip AU. Part of the Pleasantville Series.
1. Chapter 1: Leon

A/N: Hello my lovelies! So here we are again. The beginning of a new Pleasantville story! And here it's time for important notes. Which are important, so please read~ :D Okay, first off, this is a direct sequel to Just a Little Push, so if you haven't read JaLP then you will not understand what's happening here. (You will not even know who the protagonist of this chapter is.) So you should probably read at least that one first. Second, this story has TONS of OC's and sort of crossover characters...altho they mostly act as OC's, so if you don't like OC's, then you might want to skip this one. The main focus is still the canon characters, but the OC's are also very important as well. Thirdly, this is a gen!flip AU: America, Canada, Prussia, and both Italies are female. And fourthly, there is established USUK, PruCan, Spamano, and Giripan in here so far. And there maaaaaaaaaay~ be other couples being established in this one, but I don't want to give too much away so… . Mew. SO THOSE ARE ALL THE NOTES. I HOPE THIS STORY PLEASES YOU I LOVE YOU ALL. *kisses*

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**Old, New, Borrowed, Blue**

**Part 1: In Which Old Friends Party-Crash**

If there was one thing about this town that annoyed Leon, it was that there were many _many _people who didn't seem to understand that most people required sleep in order to function. He didn't mind being the person that his friends came to when they have a problem. It was nice being needed, after all. But it was really annoying when they ignored the fact that he occasionally needed to sleep through the night.

It didn't help when he stumbled out of his room and almost immediately tripped over something. Some sort of bag, probably Francis's… He'd have to yell at him tomorrow morning, or rather—he glanced over toward the kitchen and at the digital clock over the stove—this morning.

Someone was pounding on his door at three in the morning and it just kept getting louder and louder as he tried to navigate around the room with absolutely no light…

"Cher, make it _stop_." And it _also_ didn't particularly help when his apparently-roommate whined at him. Leon could hear Francis roll over, probably burying his head under his pillow in an attempt to block out the noise.

Leon still wasn't entirely sure _when_ it was that Francis had moved himself into his apartment. Apparently long enough for Leon to now be well-aware of the fact that Francis was a whiny nightmare when he was unexpectedly woken up.

He'd reached the front door finally and sighed, trying to imagine who it could be. Gill, maybe? Or his grandmother? Except his grandmother wouldn't have bothered knocking; she would've just let herself in. So it was probably Gill.

He really needed to get it through that girl's head that it was not okay to bang on someone's door at three in the morning. He needed _sleep._

"_Cher_."

"I'm _getting_ it." He wasn't really dressed to receive visitors, but he rather doubted Gill would even notice that he was greeting her in his boxers.

He left the chain on—just in case it _wasn't _Gill—unlocked the door, and pushed it open.

And was immediately greeted by the voice that he probably least-expected. A sudden, eardrum-bursting shout of, "Leon!"

He was also greeted by the sound of his door almost ripping off its hinges as a _huge _figure slammed into it. He jumped back, startled, and then shouted, "Chris, don't break my… Let me unlock the door first!" He hurried to push the door closed and pulled the chain off. Not entirely sure that he was actually conscious right now. Because why the _hell _would Chris be standing outside his apartment at three in the morning? Wasn't he supposed to be on the practically-other-side-of-the-country right now?

He didn't have much time to ponder his possible unconsciousness, as he was worried that Chris might actually break the door if he didn't open it immediately. He physically braced himself, which turned out to be a good idea, as he was almost instantly lifted off his feet in a bear-like embrace as soon as the door opened wide.

"Leon!" Chris was one of those people who had never really been able to comprehend his own strength, particularly when he was excited. And right now he was squeezing the life out of Leon. "You should've seen your face! Isn't this the best surprise ever?! I bet you didn't expect to see _me _here!" He finally released him at that, possibly only a few moments before Leon would've been asphyxiated. Although he only set him free so that he could stand back and look him over. "Are you eating good, Leon? You look skinnier I think. And you'd better be getting regular exercise because a healthy heart is a happy heart!"

Yeah, he was definitely conscious. Only real-life Chris would be nagging him like an overprotective mother. Leon glanced back toward the interior of his apartment; back toward his nice warm bed that he probably wouldn't be seeing again for quite a while. "Chris, what…?" Actually, he took a step back and motioned for Chris to step inside. "Why don't you come in, Chris? So we don't wake up the neighbors…"

He'd be surprised if they hadn't _already _woken up some of his neighbours. Which meant he'd probably hear about it tomorrow. Someone—probably Miss Irving—would passive-aggressively mention people being noisy at ungodly hours of the morning and then fix him with a pointed glare.

Chris had passed by Leon into the apartment almost before he'd gotten the invitation out and then started running his hands along the wall. "Where's your light switch, Leon? Oh, wait…" And the room was immediately flooded with light.

"Ow. A little warning would be nice, cher."

And Leon took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment to compose himself. The thing was… Well, he loved Chris; they'd been best friends since the literal cradle and their time apart hadn't changed that. But he was very aware of certain _flaws _in his friend's character. And one of those flaws was the reason why Leon had tried his best to keep his friend away from Pleasantville.

Francis had pulled himself to a seated position at some point during Leon and Chris's conversation and was now sitting there, blinking sleepily. He brought a hand up to cover his mouth as he yawned and then rubbed at his eyes and patted at his hair, which was sticking up at weird angles and it was probably best that Francis was still too tired to really think about it…

Chris had frozen in the entryway, leaving Leon very little room to maneuver the door closed, and was presumably staring at the room's occupant. Leon squeezed himself around and moved between the two. And yep, Chris's expression was about what he'd expected… He was staring at Francis with the same look someone might have if they walked into their best friend's house and found a giant tarantula sitting on their couch. Incredibly confused and more than a little freaked out.

"This is Francis," Leon cut in before anyone could say anything that would make this situation any worse. "He's my…" he hesitated and then settled on, "roommate. Francis, this is Chris. He's one of my best friends from back home."

Francis nodded and yawned again. "You didn't mention that your friend was coming to visit us, cher." And then he flashed Leon a mostly-disguised look of annoyance 'And you definitely didn't mention that he was showing up at three in the morning.'

Leon gave an awkward shrug of 'I have no idea either' and turned back to Chris, who was still staring at Francis like he wasn't sure why he was there. "So-it's not that I'm not happy to see you, Chris, because I definitely am—but…what are you doing here?"

And that seemed to at least momentarily distract Chris from the couch's occupant. He grinned brightly. "It was Big Mike's idea! She called a couple months ago and said that we should come out and visit you! And we've never even gotten a chance to see where you live, Leon! I want to meet all of your friends and visit all of your favourite places around town and see where you work and everything!"

You know, Leon really wasn't at all surprised that his grandmother was behind this. When wasn't she behind stuff like this?

"And she told you to make it a surprise, right?"

Chris's nod was enough confirmation that Leon's grandmother was indeed evil incarnate. Especially because she knew exactly why he _hadn't _wanted Chris to visit… And something that Chris had said was bothering him, but the mention of his grandmother had distracted him.

And he _jumped _when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around his neck from behind. "Cher~ You're not being a very good host. I'm sure your friend is tired and would love to get some rest. I would graciously let him take my bed and you and I can share for the night."

…And that really hadn't been the best thing to say right now. Not that Francis could really know, since his teasing normally wasn't a problem. But now… Leon just stood there, resisting the urge to smack himself in the face, and watched as Chris's eyes widened in absolute horror. His friend almost audibly gasped and had to take a few deeps breath before he suddenly shouted, "An incubus!"

Leon really had no idea who it was who had introduced Chris to the occult. Probably Claire, since that seemed like a little sister thing to do. But whoever it was had single-handedly made Leon's life a million times more difficult. The problem was that Chris was scarily overprotective—there really wasn't any other word for it. He'd been protective when they were kids, but after Leon's mother's suicide… It'd kicked up to eleven. He hated when Leon made new friends, very rarely approved of them, and would often justify his irrational dislike of them by convincing himself that they were some evil, occult creature.

"…Cher, what is he talking about?" Francis whispered very quietly, as if worried that Chris might overhear them.

Sometimes Leon wondered why he couldn't have normal friends. He sighed and then ducked his head to escape from Francis's arms. "Francis isn't an incubus, Chris. We've been over this…" Too many times to count. "Were you planning on spending the night?" He ran through the apartment's layout. There weren't many places where someone of Chris's size would be able to sleep comfortably, but he could probably figure something out…

"Oh!" Chris suddenly exclaimed, "I forgot about Ronnie! I told him that I wanted to see you first and then I'd come back to get him…"

"You brought _Ronnie_ with you too?" Leon glanced back toward the door leading to his bedroom. There was absolutely no way that four people were fitting in his apartment. And he was rather surprised; Ronnie wasn't the type of person who'd just drop in unannounced like that. He was usually the responsible one. Leon had been friends with him since the beginning of high school, when he'd decided to join the drama club to keep everyone from worrying so much about him, and Ronnie had always been the sensible, level-headed one. Who wasn't completely freaked out when Chris accused him of being a vampire.

Then again, he also had a tendency to just go along with things if he didn't particularly care about the outcome… Which was part of the reason why Chris _still _thought he was a vampire. He'd always been a bit lazy when it came to things like that.

Chris nodded and then added, "We brought Robin too!"

"Now, cher~" Francis had moved to stand by Leon's side now. He flashed Chris a bright smile that made Leon more than a bit nervous. "Why didn't you tell me we were having a party? I would've made us a cake."

They were all rather surprised by the voice that suddenly came from the direction of the doorway. "I believe that technically, as the ones showing up without warning, we should've been the ones bringing snacks."

And there was Ronnie, standing inside the room and leaning against the door. Which Leon hadn't even heard open up. He stared at them for a few moments with his normal bored expression—Leon had rarely seen any other expression on his face for as long as he'd known him, besides when he'd put on another character's mask.

"Ronnie…"

"Sorry for the lack of notice," Ronnie interrupted, pushing himself away from the door and slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Which suddenly reminded Leon of the fact that he was currently standing in the middle of his apartment, greeting his friends in nothing more than his boxers and a wife beater… "Chris wanted it to be a surprise." He eyed Francis for a moment and then raised an eyebrow pointedly at Leon. "If we'd known you already had a guest…"

Francis had started leaning against Leon at some point during the conversation and now just responded with a simple "Bonjour" and a wave. Which probably meant that he was starting to fall back asleep.

And thankfully Ronnie was a lot better at reading the atmosphere than Chris was, as he glanced down at his wrist—where there wasn't a watch—and said, "Well, it looks like it's time to get back to the hotel, Chris. And try to find Robin."

"Where is Robin?" That had actually surprised Leon a little bit; he'd expected Robin to burst through the door at some point and throw her arms around him.

Ronnie shrugged, "She saw a club on the way and made us drop her off… Said she'd rather say hi after Chris had stopped blubbering over you."

"I didn't blubber over him!" Chris sounded rather indignant. He crossed his arms over his chest and then fixed Francis—who may have fallen asleep while standing up, he was now leaning practically all his weight on Leon and had rested his head against his shoulder and geez, he was _heavy_. "I knew Leon shouldn't be living all by himself, though. He's rooming with an incubus!"

It probably said something that Ronnie didn't even look surprised by this accusation. He just blinked once and then responded with a "Is he? Well, apparently even incubus's need their sleep. I think we've interrupted Leon's rest for long enough."

"But…" Chris looked between all three of them, "We can't leave Leon alone with an incubus…"

Ronnie moved out of his perpetual slouch and grabbed Chris's arm, lightly tugging him toward the door. "Leon can take care of himself. We'll see him tomorrow morning."

Chris didn't look convinced, but he allowed himself to be pulled away. Although he turned at the last moment and called over his shoulder, "Don't worry, Leon! I'll get rid of it tomorrow! You'll be okay!"

Leon wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he just sighed and waved. "See you tomorrow, Chris."

The door closed and he just stood there for a moment, feeling like his life had just been flipped upside down again. He also felt like he really wanted to call his grandmother right now and yell at her, but he rather doubted that she'd care.

"So, I'm an incubus now?" And Francis's voice came way too close to his ear. And was unexpected, since he'd been thinking he was asleep.

Leon shook his head slightly and then pushed him off so he could move back towards his own room. "Don't ask. He'll probably try to exorcise you tomorrow, though, so prepare for that."

And he'd worry about that once he had more than three hours of sleep in his system.

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A/N: NEW STORY NEW STORY. Okay, so I know this was really OC-focused. Don't worry that the whole story will be like this. It just fit in best this way chronologically.

Hmm, not sure what to say here. Just for your information, this story takes place about one year after Just a Little Push. Aaaand… I can't think of anything else to say. I hope you enjoy this story! And that it doesn't take 3 years to complete. Ahahaa… .


	2. Chapter 2: Feli

**Old, New, Borrowed, Blue**

**Part 2: In Which Feli & Lovi Discuss Family**

Feliciana honestly thought that her sister was the most beautiful girl in the entire world.

It made her rather sad that Lovi didn't seem to understand, though. Whenever Feli told her sister that she was amazingly beautiful, she'd scoff and poke her in forehead and tell her that _she _was the pretty sister. Which Feli just didn't understand… It wasn't that she thought she _wasn't _pretty. If Nonno and Feli and Gillian and Ludwig and bunches of other people all said she was pretty, then she must be pretty. But, Lovi was so _beautiful_. It was like comparing a butterfly to the ocean. They were both really pretty, but the ocean was so much bigger and wilder and constantly changing.

Right now, Feli was sitting on the edge of her sister's bed and wondering how in the world she could explain to Lovi how beautiful she was at this exact moment.

She was wearing her almost-finished wedding dress, standing on a stool. Her lips were turned down in a distracted frown as she stared over her shoulder at the reflection in the big mirror that hung over her door. She twisted around a few times, watching as the skirt's fabric floated around her legs, and then turned toward her sister. "What do you think?"

"You look so pretty, Lovi!" And Feli honestly couldn't think of a time when her sister had looked more gorgeous. She couldn't even _begin_ to imaginehow beautiful Lovi would look on her actual wedding day. "You're going to be the prettiest bride in the entire universe!"

Lovi rolled her eyes and set her hands on her hips. "I meant what do you think about the _dress_. Do you think it looks fine?"

"Ve~ of course!" Feli jumped up from the bed and hurried over to stand by her sister. The dress was perfect, she thought. The sleeves were sheer and a little bit poofy and off the shoulder, ending at her elbows. The skirt was covered in handmade white flowers of all different shapes and sizes. A white ribbon was there to be tied around her waist, although it was currently hanging loose. "It's such a pretty dress."

"We finally got all those fucking flowers sewn back on." She turned again and eyed the ribbon. "Is that even?"

"Yep!" Feli didn't even look; Lovi had already asked that question multiple times today.

Honestly, Feli thought it was a little unfair that Lovi had been the one who did a lot of the sewing and redesigning of her own wedding dress. She was the bride, so she shouldn't be worrying about that, right? But the dress had been old and in need of repair when it'd come out of the box where Antonio's mama had been storing it for years. And Feli had the feeling that her sister wouldn't _trust _anyone else to repair it.

Antonio's mama had told them that the dress had been her grandmother's and then her mother's and, since she was the only daughter, it'd been passed on to her. She'd smiled down at her hands as she smoothed the fabric… And Feli had noticed how she'd looked almost sad for a moment.

The sad expression had disappeared almost immediately, though, and she'd started chatting with Lovi about the alterations they'd need to make and how much time they'd need. Feli's thoughts had drifted away, wondering what kind of pasta she should make for Lovi and Nonno tonight.

That had been a long time ago. Now Lovi was standing in her almost-complete wedding dress and she looked like a princess.

"Oi, Feli!" And Feli hadn't even realized that she was starting to zone off until Lovi snapped at her. "Help me out of this."

"Ve~" She hurriedly took a step closer, reaching up to undo the dress's zipper. The dress originally hadn't had a zipper and Antonio's mama and Lovi had discussed whether or not to add one for a very long time. Feli was glad they'd eventually decided to add one; it made it a lot easier to help her sister out of the gown.

Although now… Well, there was something that Feli had been wanting to ask her sister for months. But it'd never seemed to be the right time. There were always other people around or Lovi had seemed super stressed out by something wedding-related. Feli watched as her sister looked at her reflection, a slight smile passing over her lips as she twisted back and forth.

It felt like the right time. "Ve~ Lovi?"

"Hmm?" Lovi glanced back at her, tilting her head slightly as Feli pulled her sister's zipper down so she could begin removing the wedding dress.

Feli honestly had no idea how she should begin, though… She'd been thinking about this a lot, ever since they'd started planning for the wedding really. But she'd never been able to decide on how she should bring it up to her sister. Because she knew that Lovi wouldn't respond well…

"Oi!" And she was snapped out of her thoughts when her sister whacked her over the head. Although Lovi didn't sound quite as irritated as usual. Feli imagined that it must be hard to be really angry when you were wearing a beautiful wedding dress. "What the hell did you want to ask, idiot?"

"Ve~" Feli rubbed at the top of her head; she'd still whacked her really hard. "That's not nice, Lovi. I just wanted to ask…" She hesitated, and then took a deep breath and closed her eyes, preparing herself for another thwack. "Ve~ I just wanted to know if you invited Mama and Papa to the wedding!"

The expected whack didn't come, so she hesitantly opened her eyes. To see Lovi standing there, with her wedding dress hanging half-off, staring at her with a bewildered expression. Which was better than the _rage _that Feli had been expecting.

"What?"

Feli continued, now a little braver. "Ve~ I was thinking about it hard, because it's your _wedding_ and weddings are when families get together and celebrate and I know that Mama was mean when we were little, but maybe she's nicer now! And Papa…"

"We don't know where the fuck that asshole even is. How the hell am I supposed to invite him to my wedding if I have no idea where he is? He could be fucking _dead _for all we know." Now Lovi was starting to sound angrier. She set her hands on her hips and glared at her sister for a moment before she made a disgusted noise and turned to the mirror.

That was closer to the reaction Feli had been expecting.

The thing was… Feli wasn't stupid. She knew that their mother had been mean and awful to Lovi when they were little. She couldn't remember a lot of what had happened, because she'd been really young at the time. But she remembered enough to know that Lovi had good reason to never want to talk about their parents. She usually took the route of pretending that they'd never existed.

But the thing was… People could change, right? And sometimes Feli would sit in her room and wonder about their parents. Where were they, and what were they doing now. And ever since Lovi had started planning her wedding, Feli couldn't stop thinking about their Mama and Papa and family… And how weddings were times when family was supposed to gather together. What if Mama wasn't mean anymore and what if they could find Papa? What if they could have the whole family together?

"Ve~" She nervously played with the hem of her shirt, twisting it around her hands. "Ludwig's mama found Nonno. What if we could find someone who could search for Papa?"

"You want to hire a fucking private investigator to find our asshole father who ditched us when we were kids?"

Feli didn't know what to say. It was hard to argue with her sister when it was true; he had left them, but…

"But what if he misses us a lot like we miss him?"

And Lovi's eyes widened slightly at that. But then she scowled and took a step forward, almost tripping over the skirt of her dress. "Who says I fucking miss that dick? I barely even _remember _him. And even if I did, why would I miss someone who obviously doesn't give a _fuck_ about us?"

"Ve~" Her sister was pretty scary when she was mad. "But he's our papa."

"No." Lovi spat the word out and then turned back toward the mirror. She finally fully-removed the dress, taking the time to carefully smooth it out and then walked past Feli to lay it carefully on her bed. "We don't _have _a papa. It's you, me, and Nonno. That's it."

"What about Antonio?"

Feli thought it was cute how Lovi would blush when you brought up Antonio around her. She'd blush and then get all flustered and stomp around. Which she did now before walking over to the chair where she'd left her normal clothes. "He's not family _yet_. He's still gotta wait a stupid month."

Feli was pretty sure that Antonio could already be considered part of their family, but if Lovi wanted to wait until their actual wedding day to make it official. "And then Antonio's mama will be part of our family too!"

Whenever Feli thought of their family, she thought of all sorts of people. Of course Nonno and her sister and Antonio and Antonio's mama. But then there was Ludwig and Gill and Kiku and Francis and there were so many people!

But still, even with all those people in her family… Feli still wanted to see if things could change. If their mama and papa could be brought back into their family.

But… She could tell that Lovi wasn't going to help her. Which meant that she'd have to do it herself.

She didn't really know where to even start, though. She knew where their mama lived now. She'd moved away from the home they'd lived in when they were little, but Feli knew that Ludwig's mama knew her new address. Ludwig had told her when she'd asked him a long time ago. Although he'd acted like he didn't _want_ to tell her.

Feli wasn't sure how she'd do it, but she was determined… She was going to try to bring her family back together for Lovi's wedding.

Her thoughts were interrupted, though, at the sound of feet pounding up the stairs and then "Hola, Lovinita!" as the door was slammed open.

And Lovi _shrieked_, clutching the shirt that she'd just been about to tug over her head so it covered her bare chest. "Get out! Fucking…" And she reached over to grab the closest object, which happened to be her alarm clock, and chucked it toward poor Antonio.

Who ducked and then hurriedly backed up and slammed the door closed. "Lo siento, Lovi! Lo siento! I didn't see anything!"

Lovi's expression was rather worrying. Feli hoped that her sister wouldn't kill her fiancé before the wedding even happened.

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A/N: Weeee~ The plot thickens?

So my friend just spent the weekend with me and we did so many Halloween things. We went to a masquerade and a haunted house. And right now I just want to write spooky ghosty things for Halloween, but I rather doubt I'd be able to finish anything before Halloween since I'm rather busy these next few days. I will probably try, though. Because GHOSTYNESS.

I guess that it'll be okay even if I don't finish it before Halloween, right? Ghosty stories can be wonderful ALL YEAR ROUND.


	3. Chapter 3: Arthur

**Old, New, Borrowed, Blue**

**Part 3: In Which There are Two Als**

"And that's finally it." Arthur groaned as he set the thankfully-last box on the floor took and took a step back to eye the piles of precariously-stacked boxes that were taking up pretty much all of the floor space in his bedroom.

He was exhausted, after carrying box after box after box upstairs. Half of them went into his room, half of them made their way into Duncan's old room, which had become the guest bedroom since he'd moved into his own place.

Alcide, his college roommate and now summer housemate, set his final box on the floor and then stood there, shifting his weight between his feet awkwardly. "You're sure that this isn't any trouble?" he questioned for probably the millionth time today.

Arthur rolled his eyes and dropped heavily onto his bed, eyeing the pile of clothes that were now lying beside him. He'd need to hang them up and then figure out where to put the rest of this shit. "It's fine."

They'd come up with the plan ages ago, when Alcide first mentioned that he was looking for somewhere to live for the summer. He was a foreign student, from Italy, and his entire immediate family lived back in a little town sort-of close to Pisa. That's how he'd explained it to Arthur at least. And the only people he knew who lived in the States were his second-cousins who lived in a tiny, run-down apartment down near Philly and he said that the place always smelled like cat urine and three-week-old pizza.

So Arthur had immediately offered his roommate a place at his house for the summer. He and Maxen were the only ones left living at home, besides their parents, after all. Duncan and Seamus had both found themselves their own places to live. And while Alcide had been reluctant at first, eventually he'd given in and accepted the offer.

It had made moving out of their room rather more difficult, unfortunately, as they'd had to stuff their _entire _room in his car and his step-father's truck. Although he was thankful that Alcide didn't own that much… Arthur's books had taken up more space than anything else. Which his step-father of course had to comment on.

"Fair warning that people all of the people around here are bloody insane," Arthur continued. Which just may count as the understatement of the century.

Alcide's eyes widened slightly in surprised confusion, but then he nodded. Arthur felt a little bad for his friend, because he knew that he wouldn't be able to understand the truth of Arthur's statement until he'd met the psychos who lived around here. And by that point, it'd be too late.

Speaking of whom… He slid his mobile from where he'd been uncomfortably sitting on it and checked his new messages. And yes, there were twelve from Ally. He sighed and then pressed the button to bring up her messages. And they all consisted of variations on '_u here yet artie?'_ and '_when r u gonna b here?'_

"Exhibition one, my girlfriend," he muttered to himself as he tapped out a '_We just got in, Al. We're at my house now, but we're both exhausted. I'll see you tomorrow.' _Not that it would make any difference, since he knew Ally would throw on her jacket and make her way over as soon as she read that text.

Honestly, he didn't really _want _to wait until tomorrow to see her, although it would probably be good to give his roommate time to settle down.

Unfortunately, that idea was shot when he suddenly heard the sound of someone making their way upstairs. Too quiet to be Ally, as she always sounded like a herd of bulls when she ran up the stairs to his room. His mother wasn't home from work yet, so it had to be Maxen.

He was very surprised and very unhappy when the door was pushed open to reveal a very blond, very French, very _unwelcome _individual. Who happily beamed at him and flounced his way inside the room like he'd been _invited_.

"Bonjour, cher! How was your trip today?" He pushed at the pile of clothes beside Arthur, knocking a few shirts onto the floor. Arthur sent him an infuriated glare.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing here, frog?"

Francis just smiled even wider, and then glanced up and noticed the room's other occupant. Alcide was still standing near the doorway, glancing between the two of them and the door like he wasn't sure whether he was supposed to remain in the room or make a quick exit.

It was a pretty normal expression to see on Alcide's face. He usually avoided the presence of other people, since human interaction seemed to make him feel uncomfortable.

Not that Francis paid that any mind, as he hurriedly stood and crossed the room to take Alcide's hand in his. Then he lowered his lips to kiss the back of his hand. "I am very sorry not to have introduced myself immediately, cher. My name is Francis Bonnefoy. I am one of Arthur's dearest friends."

"No you're fucking not."

Francis—typically—ignored him and just grinned up at Alcide, who looked absolutely bewildered. Arthur was a little surprised that Francis didn't try for anything else. Kiss, grope, sexual molestation. He just turned his attention back to Arthur.

"Cher, I need your help with something."

"No."

Francis actually looked annoyed at that. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned forward slightly. "This is not a joke, cher. I need your assistance."

"With what?" Arthur glanced over the frog's shoulder to his roommate, who was staring down at the back of his hand like he wasn't entirely sure that it even belonged to him anymore. And he hadn't even met _Gill _yet.

Francis leaned even closer, until Arthur had to move backwards to keep his personal bubble from being invaded. "I need information, cher. All of the information you have about cher Leon's friends."

Arthur blinked. "Leon's friends?"

"Oui, particularly any information you have regarding Monsieur Chris."

…Arthur was hearing Francis's words, but he wasn't understanding why he was hearing them. "Chris? Why do you want to know about Chris?"

"Because we met this morning and…" He hesitated for a moment, looking more annoyed, and then he continued, "I don't think that he particularly liked me…"

And that was actually rather entertaining. Francis had met someone who wasn't instantly charmed by his over-the-top frogginess? Arthur perked up and received an annoyed glare from Francis at his interest.

"So, Leon's old friend is in town? I'll have to meet him; it sounds like he has good taste."

"Of course, cher, you're very funny." He made a dismissive motion with his hand and then leaned closer again. Arthur responded by trying to scoot back again, but then managed to lose his balance in the process like a git and fell back onto his elbows. Which Francis—the dick—took as permission to pin him down. He grabbed onto his wrists, pushed down so he fell fully onto his back, and then moved so he was half kneeling on the bed with one of his knees in between Arthur's legs. Which unfortunately made it more difficult to knee him in the crotch, which was Arthur's first instinct. "So," he continued as if he hadn't moved at all. "What do you know about cher's friend?"

"Get the fuck off of me, you fucking bloody prick." And Arthur was actually shocked when Francis actually listened after a few seconds of holding him down. He released his wrists first and then hurriedly took a few steps backward before Arthur could sit up and kick him.

Okay, and it was official that Francis was acting really fucking weird today. Normally he'd be more teasing, especially since they hadn't seen each other in almost a month now. It couldn't be that he was really _that_ upset by the fact that Leon's friend didn't immediately like him. Sure, it was pretty uncommon for people to dislike Francis, which Arthur took as further proof that their town was filled with psychos. But there were guys—mostly guys at least—who disliked him because they were disgruntled ex-boyfriends or they were homophobes who didn't like the fact that Francis was openly willing to sleep with whoever was willing to sleep with him, regardless of sex or anything else.

And that was when Arthur remembered the other occupant of the room, who had just witnessed him getting pinned down to a bed by another guy. His head snapped up, which was actually slightly painful, and he stared at Alcide. Whose eyes were wide in shock.

As soon as he noticed Arthur's attention on him, though, he made a panicked motion with his hands that Arthur had no clue how to decipher. "Oh no, it is okay. I will just—I will just put my things away, yes?" And then he _darted _out of the room.

And now Arthur did kick the frog, although the only body part he could reach was his shin. "Fucking frog."

Francis didn't even attempt to look pained. He just jerked his leg backwards and then scowled at him for a moment before he returned to his normal froggy look—Arthur wouldn't really know how to describe the 'normal froggy look' except to say that it was infuriatingly sure-of-himself and _French_. "Now, cher, I know cher Leon would have told you more about his friends than he's ever told _moi_, so..."

Arthur sighed and glared at the pile of clothes that Francis had disrupted. "All I know is that he and Chris have been best friends since the cradle. Leon went through a bunch of shit when he was a kid and Chris helped him out. And he probably just doesn't like you since you're constantly trying to whore yourself out to Leon. That'd probably annoy someone who's been best friends with him since he was a baby."

Francis looked slightly offended by the statement. "I am not 'whoring myself out' to cher Leon. I wish to share l'amour with him. There is a difference, cher."

"Either that or he's one of the few people in this world who's smart enough to immediately tell what a bloody git you are."

"You're a very cruel person, cher. What do you think I should do? You're much more used to having people dislike you."

And Arthur stood at that, balling his hand into a fist in preparation to wipe that smug grin off the frog's face.

But he was interrupted by a voice coming from his bedroom door, "Hey, Artie! What are you two fighting about this time?"

He hurriedly dropped his arm and took a step backwards, knocking the back of his knees against his bed. "Al!" And his voice squeaked at that, which was embarrassing. And of course the frog noticed, as he sent Arthur an amused look. "What are you doing here?"

She looked like she'd just been at baseball practice; she was wearing her team's T-shirt and dirt and grass-stained white baseball pants and her hair was tucked up under a baseball cap. She grinned and Arthur felt his heart skip a beat.

"I wanted to come see you! We just got out of practice right before you texted me, so I decided to come over. I can't stay too long, though, 'cause Mattie's in the car and she gets really impatient." She walked across the room to stand in front of him and then leaned down to kiss him.

It was really the only part of college that he really disliked, besides drunk idiots screaming outside his window at three in the morning. It'd been way too long since he saw Al. Sure they emailed and texted constantly and Skyped at least a couple times a week, but they hadn't been able to kiss or touch each other for about a month now.

And he'd been thinking more and more about when they'd move to the next level in their relationship. Although he'd been too nervous to bring it up to her yet… What if she thought he was just a sex-obsessed pervert like Francis?

Of course, said frog had told him he was being silly and to just _ask_, but of course he hadn't been able to do that yet. Especially over email or text or Skype conversation.

Anyway, so now he wrapped an arm around her waist. She smelled like sweat and dirt, which wasn't the best smell in the world, but it suited her.

And he had just begun to deepen the kiss, hyper-aware of the bed right behind him, when an obnoxiously chipper voice cut in, "Well, cher, I had better be going. Places to go, things to see, oui? You and cher Allison have _fun_." He placed undo emphasis on the last word. Stupid, bloody git.

Al had apparently completely forgotten that Francis was standing right behind them, as she jumped and then spun around to face him. Gracing him with a wide, slightly-embarrassed smile. "Hey, Francis. Like, I said, I can't stay long so you don't need to leave."

"Non, non," he waved a hand. "I have other errands I need to run. Apparently we're having guests, so I need to go shopping for groceries anyway. And call some people about the wedding." He glanced toward Arthur quickly and smiled, "We'll finish our discussion later, cher. Oui?"

"What discussion?" Arthur responded, rather annoyed that he and Al had been interrupted.

Francis didn't rise to the bait. "You know what discussion, cher. Now I must say au revoir." And he thankfully finally left at that.

Although Ally had been sufficiently distracted from what they'd been doing before and she now started poking around in his boxes. "It's super exciting that you're gonna be home for the whole summer! Even if you did decide to come back super late."

Arthur sighed and began picking up the clothing that Francis had knocked onto the floor, righting it and then laying it back on the bed. "Well, I'm here now so…" He wasn't sure how to finish that statement. "My roommate is staying with me for the summer as well."

And she immediately perked up at that. "Other Al's here? Where is he? I wanna actually meet him!"

Ally hadn't actually met his roommate yet, although she'd seen him moving around the room while he was on Skype with her and she'd immediately yelled, "Hey! Hey, is that your roommate? Hi, Artie's roommate!" and managed to scare the shit out of him.

She also found it rather amusing that his name was 'Alcide'. She'd immediately nicknamed him 'Other Al', which had managed to stick in Arthur's head as well so occasionally he'd mentally refer to his roommate as 'Other Al'.

Alcide was probably already traumatized; introducing him to Ally wouldn't help matters. But what could he do? There was no way Ally was going to let him get away with not introducing them immediately. So he sighed heavily and crossed the room to the door. "Okay, Al. He's staying in Duncan's room."

That was as far as he got, as she immediately ran out the door and down the hallway to his step-brother's old room. "Hey, Other Al! I'm Ally! I'm Artie's girlfriend!"

…Why was it that he was in love with that git again?

* * *

A/N: Because she's adorable Artie. Because she's adorable.

Guess who's off to take the GRE in 20 minutes? This chica. So not excited. Sitting at a computer taking a test for five hours? So not enjoyable. But we do what we must do.

Umm, I think that's about all I wanted to say. I'm hoping there aren't too many typos in the second half of this chapter. I kind of rush-typed it since I wanted to get it done before I left for the GRE, so if there are a lot of typos, I apologise and I might fix it once I get back. .


	4. Chapter 4: Francis

**Old, New, Borrowed, Blue**

**Part 4: The Exorcism of Francis Bonnefoy**  
**Scene 1 ~ In Which there is No Actual Exorcism**

So, he'd _maybe _gone a little overboard with the grocery shopping…

He'd blame it on the arrival of Leon's friends last night. Grocery shopping helped him think and he'd needed lots of time to puzzle over things today. Last night—or rather, early early this morning—had been _bizarre_, to put it mildly. He'd been called a lot of things in his life, but he'd never before had someone seriously accuse him of being a _demon_.

Demon in the sack, maybe.

He sighed and leaned his head against the driver's window as he glanced in the backseat, where he'd put the bags that didn't fit in the trunk. Leon probably wouldn't be particularly happy with him when he saw how much he'd bought… He was pretty sure there wasn't enough room in the refrigerator.

This is why Leon needed to buy a house with a beautiful, spacious kitchen, a massive refrigerator, and an extra freezer in the basement or garage. That would be perfect. And then Francis wouldn't have to always sleep on the couch, which was admittedly not as uncomfortable as most couches. But still.

He started a little at the sound of tapping coming from right by his ear and tipped his head back slightly to see who was trying to get his attention. He grinned at the sight of Leon standing outside the car, staring at the backseat with an eyebrow raised. Francis rolled the window down, "Bonjour, cher. I wasn't sure what kind of food your friends like, so I bought a variety."

"Did you fill up the trunk again?" Leon sounded less annoyed, more resigned. This wasn't the first time this had happened. He shook his head and then moved to open the back door. "We're going to have to rearrange the fridge again. And probably the freezer. Which _you're _doing this time."

Francis grinned and slid out of the car, watching as Leon leaned over and began shuffling bags around so he could carry them. "Of course, cher."

He waited until Leon had emerged from the backseat with bags hanging from his arms before he asked, "Are your friends here?"

Leon's expression immediately switched to something close to exasperation, although there was more than a hint of fondness. Which was an interesting combination. He sighed and glanced up toward their apartment's window. "Yeah, they showed up pretty soon after you left. I swear, Grandmother's trying to give me an early heart attack."

"Is your friend still convinced that I'm an incubus?"

And now there was just exasperation. He sighed and then handed a few of the bags to Francis, who had rather been hoping he'd be able to get out of carrying anything. "Yes, of course. I promise Chris seriously isn't trying to be a jerk. He just…"

"He just seriously believes I'm an incubus?"

"He also seriously believes Ronnie and his family are all vampires."

Francis had to laugh at that and then waited until Leon's arms were filled with more bags before he moved to stand beside him and then kissed his cheek. "I think I understand now why you get along so well with everyone here."

"Because you're all insane and I'm used to insane people? Yeah, I figured that out a while ago." He closed the car door with his elbow and then made a motion for Francis to follow him up toward the apartment. "I'll get them to help bring up the rest of the stuff. If they're going to crash my apartment without any warning, they can help with bringing in groceries."

Francis nodded. "Is your friend still planning on exorcising me?"

Leon's expressions were rather entertaining; he sighed as he walked up the steps and pushed the building's front door open, waiting for Francis to pass him. "I at least convinced him to not bother a priest about it. Which took a _lot _of convincing. That's about all I could do." He stopped and turned as he pressed the button for the elevator. "If he's making you feel uncomfortable I'll get him to quit it, though. I mean, if I have to, I'll just tell him that he can't hang around here if he won't leave you alone."

…Leon could really be the sweetest person sometimes. He was staring at him, totally serious. Francis smirked and tilted his head to the side slightly. "Cher, are you _worried _about me?" Leon flushed, but then took the arrival of the elevator as a distraction. Francis followed him inside and leaned against the wall, twirling the shopping bags around as he waited for Leon to press the button to their floor. "Don't worry, cher. I am more than capable of taking care of myself. Besides, I am well aware of the path to a man's heart."

And Leon twisted around at that, entertainingly quickly. "Francis, don't you dare…"

"I meant 'through his stomach', cher. Tsk, what a dirty mind you have."

Leon turned bright red at that and then turned to the door, ignoring him as Francis attempted not-particularly-successfully to keep back laughter. He walked out as soon as the doors opened and headed toward their apartment.

Francis had been trying to mentally prepare himself for whatever was going to greet him when he entered the apartment. He knew absolutely nothing about exorcisms except that he was pretty sure they involved candles.

Apparently that was what Chris knew about them as well, as that was the first thing he noticed when he followed Leon into the room. The lights were all off and the only illumination came from the light of dozens of flickering candles.

Which made the room smell pretty good, although Francis was pretty sure most occultists didn't normally use lilac and apple and whatever else-scented candles for their exorcisms.

"Aw, he's totally hot! Seriously, Leon, you are the worst describer of people that I've ever met." And a not-yet-introduced girl jumped up from the couch as they entered the room and hurried to stand in front of him. She thrust out her hand with the palm facing the floor. "Hey, I'm Robin. And you must be Leon's secret, incubus boyfriend that he won't tell us anything about!"

"Robin!" Leon's voice rose entertainingly high at that. "I told you we're not dating!"

Francis grinned. She was probably a couple years younger than him from what he could tell. At least a foot shorter with dark hair that reached almost to her hips with what looked like coloured streaks throughout, although it was hard to tell what colour in the candle light. She was currently smirking at him with a very Gill-like smirk. And he was pretty sure that he was going to like her. He grinned and then bowed low, lifted her hand to his lips, and kissed it. "It is lovely to make the acquaintance of such a beautiful young lady, ma chère."

"French too? Geez, Leon's been holding out. I've been trying to get him to tell me what you look like for the past like _hour _and he's being all vague like 'he has blonde hair and blue eyes', which of course doesn't tell me _anything_." She rolled her eyes and then turned toward Leon. "Is that lunch? Who's making lunch? I'm starving. And everybody knows you can't exorcise demons on an empty stomach."

"Where's Chris, anyway?" And apparently Leon had given up, as he now moved into the kitchen and set the bags on the counter. Francis followed, setting his own bags beside Leon's.

Robin pointed toward the bathroom door, which now opened as if on cue…

And out walked Chris, wearing a black robe that was probably meant to cover the entire body, but only came down to his knees. He initially grinned as he saw Leon, but then his eyes immediately narrowed as he noticed Francis standing beside him.

Thankfully, Leon immediately cut in, moving to stand between them. "Okay, since you three just decided to pop in without any warning, you're going to go out and get the groceries from the car. And turn on the lights when you go out. You're just asking for someone to trip over one of these candles and light the whole place up. Then we're going to have lunch before you…do whatever you're going to do."

Chris deflated slightly. "We can leave the candles lit, though?"

"Yeah," he waved a hand vaguely toward the candles, "They're fine. Just turn the lights on so nobody trips over them. Here are the keys to the car. It's the dark blue Ferrari in spot forty-six. And don't try to drive it anywhere, Robin."

She'd perked up at the word 'Ferrari', but sighed at Leon's continuance. "You're no fun. C'mon, Chris, I'm hungry."

Chris followed much more reluctantly, casting Francis a warning glare over his shoulder before he obediently flicked on the light.

Which was a bit painful after getting used to the darkness. Francis had to blink a few times before his eyes adjusted. Leon decided to leave him and dropped onto the couch beside the until-now-silent Ronnie. Who had been seated on the couch throughout this conversation with one leg crossed over the other, watching them impassively. He yawned, covering his mouth with his hand and then stretched his arms behind his back. "You know Chris isn't going to let up, even if the exorcism does fail."

"If?" Leon had relaxed into the couch, although he was eyeing the candles as if he expected one to spontaneously tip over and light the whole room on fire.

Ronnie shrugged. "Never know. You _would_ be the type of person to house an incubus."

To which Leon rolled his eyes and punched him lightly in the shoulder before he glanced up toward Francis. "Seriously, don't listen to Chris or Robin. Robin likes to tease everybody and Chris…"

"Is delusional," Ronnie cut in. "He'll be fine, though, once he stops viewing you as a threat to his precious Leon."

Francis forced a grin, although he honestly wasn't sure how he felt about this. "And how long does that usually take?"

Ronnie shrugged and settled his arms over the back of the couch. "Depends. He usually scares people off before that point."

Leon frowned. "You're making him sound like some crazy monster."

And Francis could tell that Leon was starting to get annoyed. His eyes were starting to narrow slightly and his expression was growing more guarded; he could also see that Ronnie noticed too, as he turned away and quickly changed the subject. "So, what's for lunch, then?"

"I made croissants yesterday," Francis answered. "And I bought meats and cheeses at the grocery store today. We could have something simple." And then he'd make a more luxurious dinner, which would be much more indicative of his skills. He found it hard to believe that Chris would be able to dislike him after eating one of his home-cooked meals.

Unless his taste buds were as warped as Arthur's, but if that was true then all hope was lost.

Leon stood at that and walked into the kitchen, moving past him to open the refrigerator. "What else do you want with it, then?"

"I made a gelatin the other day as well."

"When did you make gelatin?"

"When you were at work." He shrugged. "I was bored, cher, so I made gelatin and those cookies that you already ate."

He noticed that Ronnie was watching them very carefully, although his expression was still totally unreadable. No wonder Leon was so good at reading Johnson's non-language.

Which actually led to an interesting thought of how Leon's friends would respond to Leon's partner.

And that was when the door slammed open and Robin happily called out, "We're back, bitches! By the way, you have to let me drive that car tomorrow, 'kay? I have a date with this cutie I met at the bar last night and we rented a _minivan._"

It somehow didn't surprise Francis that she'd walked in with two bags on each arm and Chris's arms were loaded down with the rest. Not that he seemed to mind. He crossed the room easily and set the bags on the kitchen table before moving to stand in front of Francis. "All right, _now_ I shall send you back from whence you came, unholy incubus."

"Uh uh. Not 'til after lunch." Robin cut in before he could get any farther. And it was bizarre how they all seemed to consider this to be perfectly normal. "I'm hungry. Lunch first, then exorcisms."

And Leon and Ronnie seemed to consider this perfectly reasonable, although Leon at least sent Francis an apologetic look before he began rummaging through bags for their lunch food.

* * *

A/N: You know, the exorcism was actually supposed to take place in this chapter. Obviously it did not because they decided to talk talk talk. So I guess that'll have to wait until whenever I come back to these guys.

Random fun fact of today, I just saw Mamma Mia! performed! It was so GOOD.

Umm, I don't remember what else I wanted to say… Sorry for the major focus on Franny-kins and OC's. (Don't send me angry messages. I did warn in the first chapter's Authoress note that there would be lots of important OC's.) Focus will shift to other characters later, but trying to keep things chronological, man. It'll kill ya.

Also, Robin's date is totally with someone you've met before, so you can think about that if you wish. ;D


End file.
